Cast from Hit Points: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

You've just run out of your source of [[Magic and Powers]], whether it's [[Mana|Magic Points]] or other [[Phlebotinum]], and you desperately need to cast a spell to save the day. What do you do? Spend your own [[Life Energy]] on the spell in place of whatever would normally power it. The spell is then '''Cast From [[Hit Points]]'''.

 

Compare [[Living Battery]]. Polar opposite of [[Mana Shield]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* The Caster's [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|three most powerful shells]] in ''[[Outlaw Star]]'', [[Four Is Death|#4]], #9 and [[Thirteen Is Unlucky|#13]], work at the cost of the user's life force. Firing two will leave the user winded, and a third will bring them near death. "Just like, you know..." {{spoiler|Gene fires four in a short period of time.}}

* Sakura in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' is also physically drained by the effort of converting a Clow Card into a Sakura Card. When she learns that the cards will die unless they are converted, she attempts to convert six of them all at one time, half-killing herself in the process.

* Some spells in ''[[Slayers]]'' can be so powerful that they draw upon the user's life force when cast- the best example is the Incomplete Giga Slave, which temporarily bleaches Lina Inverse's hair white after she casts it. [[All There in the Manual|The novels]] explicitly state that one of the defining attributes of a spellcaster is a high amount of stamina, as casting spells physically drains a person. When the setting was adapted as a [[Role-Playing Game]], firstly under the [[Big Eyes, Small Mouth]] umbrella and then under the [[Dungeons & Dragons|D20]] umbrella, casting spells would cost health.

* ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' has this in Yuji. As a Torch, he's technically already dead, and, under ordinary circumstances, would inevitably be doomed to burn out and fade from existence. However, he's also a Mystes, and happens to have the artifact Reiji Maigo sealed within him, which replenishes his power of existence every midnight. As such, as long as he doesn't use up all of his existence in a day, he can lend his power to Shana, and, later, cast his own unrestricted spells, using his very existence.

** One occasion in the manga being so severe, Sailor Moon's ''entire body disintegrated completely'', she get better of course (because of the Galaxy Cauldron and the 'rebirth wave' she initiated), but damn.

* [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] gives one of these to Nanoha in the third season. It's called the Blaster System and it boosts Nanoha's power and gives her a set of [[Attack Drone]]s that can cast her spells independently of her, for a potential boost of better than ''4x'' her already monstrous power level. The cost of this is placing an immense strain on Nanoha's body and dealing physical damage to herself and to [[Empathic Weapon|Raising Heart]]; when she used Blaster 3 in the climax of the third season, she lost 8% of her total magical power and had to spend the next few years on enforced vacation to recover it.

* ''[[Infinite Stratos]]'' does a technological example of this. IS battles end when one side's energy shields are depleted in order to avoid injury to the pilot - in fact, the unshielded IS instantly shuts down to prevent further fighting. The protagonist's most effective (and for a long while, only) attack is [[Laser Blade|Reiryaku Byakuya]] which saps his own shields to pierce through the enemy's and score an instant kill. The first time he used it, he had no idea how it worked and therefore lost the match because his shield zeroed out less than a second before the attack connected. After learning about it, [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum|he's understandably reluctant to use it against a manned IS ever again]].

** In fact, it was his sister who invented the attack and used it to win the IS world tournament.

* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', though it's never explicitly stated, it's safe to assume Yellow's powers fall on the mild side of this trope as overusing her powers runs the risk of exhausting her and putting her into a deep sleep.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': At one point, after Edward gets {{spoiler|skewered with an iron bar}} and has no doctors around, he heals himself with alchemy... but takes the energy to do that from his own soul. He admits that this action probably shortened his lifespan by a few years.

 

* [[Yin-Yang Bomb|Malphast]] pulls what may have been a subtle use of this in ''[[PS238]]'' (it's possible the loss was a side effect, rather than fuel), though it's not ''his'' hit points he uses to cure Tyler's sleepiness.

{{quote|'''{{smallcaps| Malphast:}}''' I can't explain it in words you could understand, but rest assured your soul will recover in time.

'''{{smallcaps| Tyler:}}''' My what? }}

* [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]]'s most powerful attack, the God Blast, channels his life energy through Mjolnir, combining their power for an attack that can drive away a hungry Galactus.

 

== [[Films]] ==

* In ''[[Eragon (film)|Eragon]]'', it is implied that magic exists but it is very rarely used because it harms the caster. Indeed, the main character almost dies trying to use magic.

* In ''[[The Covenant]]'', the teenage characters find they can cast powerful magic, including flight (including the car they're in) and indestructibility, but each time they cast a spell, they age themselves. That last clause doesn't really take into effect until they turn 18 though. Technically, they can use all the magic they want to before then with no ill effects, but magic is addicting, and such behavior gives way to very bad habits. Meaning, if one abuses magic before they turn 18 and get full power, then they will most likely age themselves horribly very fast.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

*** It may be both- there is a passage in one of the more recent books which actually describes the 'mechanism' behind Death Curses which states that the reason a Death Curse is so powerful is that it uses ''all the energy in the wizard's body, including that keeping him alive''. Survival instinct is the usual reason that wizards don't cast it unless they're dying anyway, and unless they're being murdered they don't really have a motive to curse someone that they could take care of in some other fashion. If a wizard is sufficiently angry and no longer cares if he survives, he can cast his Death Curse anyway, and it ''will'' kill them. Harry almost does this before being snapped out by another character.

** There's also the use of Soulfire, which allows a caster to infuse some of their own soul into their spells to boost the power and effect of the spell. Unlike Hellfire, however, Soulfire isn't destructive, but rather constructive. {{spoiler|Harry ends up using Soulfire to generate a powerful hand-like construct of force to beat the hell out of a Denarian spellcaster.}} The drawback behind using Soulfire, of course, is that it uses ''your soul'' as the fuel to empower your spells. Partially drained souls in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' universe do regenerate, and pretty quickly if you do soul-affirming things—but as Bob explains it very succinctly, if you subtract five from five...

* In books by [[Tamora Pierce]], desperate bad-guy mages often kill themselves by using their own life energy for magic once they've run out of any other kind of magic. Usually, this is accompanied by one of the major characters shouting at them to stop or else they'll kill themselves, a warning they never heed.

* ''[[The Name of the Wind]]'' uses a system similar to this - [[Functional Magic|Sympathy]] is essentially a magical form of energy transfer. If you are good at it, and don't care about your own health, you can transfer the heat of your blood into something to set it on fire. [[Captain Obvious|This is not good for you.]]

** Most Whiteouts [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|never bother to learn Mikloche]]. They fear they'll end up like Syuthan, becoming a [[Action Bomb|Glowmatti]].

** Liquidon [[Lampshade Hanging|realizes]] this is happening to him in "Night of the Whiteout." [[Love Martyr|It doesn't stop Cindy from being romantically attracted to him]].

* Magic-users in ''The Soprano Sorceress'' and its sequels use their own body's reserves to cast; they have to eat like bargees just to keep their weight up.

* In ''[[Everworld]]'' magic-users are shown to weaken if they use too much power, leading [[Flat Earth Atheist|Jalil]] to [[Sarcasm Mode|wonder]] if magic burns calories. [[Merlin]], for example, is so tired after his battle with [[God of Evil|Loki]] that it's months before he is able to fully recover.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** In "Rise of the Cybermen," the Doctor uses ten years of his life to recharge a power source in the TARDIS. Subverted in that ten years to a Time Lord is a scant few moments.

* The main character in ''[[Carnivale]]'' has to draw life-force from his surroundings to use his healing abilities. It is implied that he may have inadvertently caused the Dust Bowl in this way.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** Also worth noting: characters with mechanical or cybernetic enhancements have [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|decreased Essence]], which makes them bad at magic.

* Mages in the ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' can burn some of their health for a quick boost in Mana. It also works the other way around, though this is easily the least efficient means of magical healing in the whole game.

** In the previous game, ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'', a substance called Quintessence makes casting spells easier. A mage that runs out of Quintessence can rip some from their own body, damaging it in the process.

* Demons in ''[[Demon: The Fallen]]'' can enhance their powers by drawing energy from hitpoints... except that said hitpoints belong to their followers, not them.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', as usual.

** The psionics in AD&D used a spell-point system even when the actual spellcasters use [[Vancian Magic]]. Since an ability like Cast From Hit Points fits in so much better with a spell-point system, the 2nd edition had "Cannibalize" power that allowed mid-level psionicists to get extra power points from damaging Constitution.

*** The Blackguard subclass of the Paladin from Heroes of Shadow uses a variant of this mechanic as well, which is powerful enough to be their entire Striker damage bonus.

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' d20 RPG rules generally had Force powers cost vitality (the system's version of Hit Points) to activate. If you didn't have enough vitality, you could even use wound points (representing real and dangerous—even potentially fatal—damage) to make up the difference. The only thing stopping characters from 'casting to death' is the fact that no Force power had a vitality cost so high that the damage could push a character far enough into the negatives to result in death. This was one of the many things dropped by the follow up ''Saga Edition'', which replaced it with per encounter uses.

* In the German tabletop RPG ''Das Schwarze Auge'' (aka ''The Dark Eye''), every magic user can do this, but not without consequences, usually additional damage. Excessive use of this in one of the novels leads to a mage permanently losing his ability to use magic. Later on, he uses a magic sword that also drinks from his [[Life Energy]], losing fingers on his good hand as a result.

* Epideromancers in the tabletop RPG ''[[Unknown Armies]]'' power all their magic by hurting themselves.

* In the live-roleplay system ''Labyrinthe'', almost all supernatural abilities have an hp cost in addition to a mana cost. The amount of damage done is relative to the level of the ability relative to the level of the caster.

* In the Swedish Tabletop RPG Chronopia, Orcs have access to a very interesting magical discipline; ''Painmagic'', ripping off a finger can grant you skill bonuses, cutting yourself can give you visions of the future and hacking off an arm or a leg can make you temporarily invulnerable. Not surprisingly, they have also developed plenty of rusty prosthetics complete with hidden sawblades and other nasty surprises to replace those limbs lost.

* As mentioned above, casting or controlling a spell in ''[[Slayers]] d20'' is based on stamina (a Fortitude saving throw modified by caster level), and deals subdual damage to the caster based on the spell's difficulty and your margin of success. You get a hefty bonus to your control checks by voluntarily taking lethal damage, or it might happen anyway if you botch horribly enough.

* Ixtli, the Aztanli-specific Boons in ''[[Scion]]'', have a number of abilities that grant extra [[Mana|Legend]] for physical sacrifices. The amount gained from bleeding another creature is half what you get for doing the same thing to yourself.

* Several powerful Charms and spells in ''[[Exalted]]'' require you to sacrifice health levels as part of their activation cost.

** In fact, Dragon-Blooded have quite a percentage of Charms with "Martyr" keyword. That means, that they can be cast with greater effect, but killing the Exalt for sure. That is why they can be used with no Essence left. And some of such Martyr usages can last for generations.

* ''[[Fire Born]]'' had this as a potential side effect. It takes one(or a group) so much power to cast a spell to be built up. Depending on the situation, one can roll a lot of dice and hope to quickly cast it, or do so slowly and carefully. However, if you go over the needed number of successful rolls and charge up too much power, the excess physically damages you. Of course, one can eliminate this by learning ways to channel that overload into the spell, usually for enhanced range/duration/effect.

* [[Crapsack World|Predictably]], this shows up in ''[[Mortasheen]]'', especially with healing spells.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' has Soul Eater, a spell that takes of 20% of your [[Hit Points]] [[For Massive Damage]]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJUeoJ2dbXg Behold!] Incoming potential [[Game Breaker]]!

** Various spells throughout the series (starting with ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'s'' "Pep Up") sacrifice the caster to greatly replenish others in the party. Cue some WTF moments when the user is the only person in the party (Strago or Sabin in the Coliseum).

* Warlocks in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' have a spell called Life Tap that converts health into mana. Coupled with a number of [[Life Drain]] abilities [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|that do just what they say,]] and a recently added spell that lets them evocate back to full health in a matter of seconds, this makes warlocks the only spell-casting class that never, ever needs to stop to drink. "That's the great thing about being a warlock... you don't have to eat; you don't have to drink; [[Super Not-Drowning Skills|you don't even have to BREATHE.]] You can subsist entirely on the suffering of your enemies."

** They also have the spells Hellfire (which burns them as well as everything around them) and health funnel (transfers health from the caster to his demon), the only spells in the game that damage the user. Thus making them the only class (aside from Paladins, see below;) which could suicide themselves on demand, an ability with more practical uses than you'd think.

* Not specifically magic, but in many beat-em-ups the player will have a super attack that eats up their health when used.

* The Sak and Nasak techniques from ''[[Phantasy Star]] II'' and ''III'' work this way. They kill the user but fully restore any other living party member's HP. They require 1 TP to cast as well, though. The espers in ''[[Phantasy Star]] IV'' also have the ability to extend lives at the cost of their own lifespan. This is only plot-related, though, since the aforementioned techniques don't exist in-game.

* In ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'', there are weapons that sacrifice TP (technique points) for a special attack, some that drain money, as well as those that draw from your HP for a special attack. There's also a weapon that makes it so using techniques drains you HP rather than TP.

* ''[[Castle of the Winds]]'' forces the player to draw on their own constitution when they run out of magic, lowering their max HP in order to keep decreasing mana into the negatives until the player dies. Can turn into a bit of a nail-biter when you're forced to do so, as it has a nastily unpredictable habit of suddenly killing you. Also turns into a [[Good Bad Bugs]], though.

* ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]'' has a variant of this. You have separate HP and MP meters, but you are incapacitated if your HP ''or MP'' runs out, and some enemies deal MP damage instead of HP damage. Also, many of your special abilities, especially those belonging to nonmagical characters, cost HP instead of MP. Of course, MP in this game means Mental Points and the origin of the special abilities' power would decide what kind of fatigue the user would endure with some characters having both types.

** Enemies follow this rule as well and some enemies had massively low MP stats for their HP making an MP kill on them much easier than an HP kill.

** Likewise, a few enemies (including Atma/Ultima Weapon) in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' were classified as "magical creatures" and would die at 0MP. They couldn't actually kill themselves with their own magical attacks, but a single MP-draining attack from the heroes could end them.

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' has an interesting variation on this. There is a series of three powers called Force Body. The first enables you to split the cost of any other Force power 50/50 between your health and [[Mana Meter]]. The second and third split the cost 40/40 and then 30/30, actually reducing the cost of the power in question. Given 1: Force points regenerate ''fast'' 2:you need to blow a turn to use it 3:After the first few levels nothing really dents your force point pool enough to warrant it.

* A few examples from the ''[[Diablo]]'' series:

** Until you fix it, anyway... At which point it ''heals the hero'' while doing damage to his enemies. This makes him a [[Game Breaker]] in ''[[Suikoden Tactics]]''.

** The Rune of Condemnation in ''[[Suikoden V]]'', being the child rune of the Rune of Punishment, is just like that. It can heal too depending on which spell you use.

** Energy Transfer is an even better example, since it allows the caster to pay life points to give their own special attack energy energy to an ally (who is, presumably, better at fighting than the Lunar Mage, and could put that energy to better use). Heal [[Nethack|Foo]] transfers life points on a one-to-one ratio; Energy Transfer actually consumes life points.

* The Stimpack upgrade for the Terran Marines on ''[[StarCraft]]'' allows them a short-term boost of speed and reflexes. Side effects include insomnia, weight loss, mania/hypomania, seizures, paranoiac hallucinations, internal hemorrhaging, and cerebral deterioration, represented by a loss of hit points in-game. Of course, in the expansion they give you medics, letting you use multiple stimpacks while countering the side effects, making a squad of marines with a few medics a very formidable force.

* ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption'' does this for the use of Hyper Mode. When Samus goes into it, she instantly loses one tank of energy. She can gain back some of the lost energy by exiting Hyper Mode early.

** Making it a surprisingly effective defense if you only turn it on when getting hit by a high-damage attack...

* The Dominus Glyphs in ''[[Castlevania]]: Order of Ecclesia'' consume HP when used. {{spoiler|Equipping all three and casting them as a Union Glyph [[Forbidden Chekhov's Gun|will kill you outright. Usually]].}}

* The Sigil in ''[[Strife]]'' is the most powerful weapon in the entire game. Its ammo is your hitpoints of course, and it uses more when you upgrade it by finding the other pieces of it.

** And in an inversion, the [[Squishy Wizard|Mage class]] gains a defensive buff that allows them to redirect up to 80% of the damage they receive to their MP.

** The Melee-based Brawler path of the Pirate class also learns a skill that converts HP into MP. The higher level the skill, the less HP you have to use to gain MP.

* ''Michael Jackson's Moonwalker'' has a bunch of special moves that come with the cost of draining your life bar, including throwing your hat as a boomerang and causing all the bad guys on the screen to get their groove on, after which they all drop dead.

* In the ''[[Ecco the Dolphin]]'' games, the [[Oxygen Meter]] running out meant Ecco's health would start to go down. If ''that'' ran out, he would drown. Surfacing would restore the air meter, but he'd still have to find some fish to replenish any health lost from nearly drowning.

* Friendly ghost girl Pamela in ''[[Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis]]'' has a number of skills that drain her HP instead of her SP.

* In the original ''[[Legacy of Kain|Blood Omen]]'', Kain had a spell that allowed him to literally ''shoot his own blood'' at enemies. If it hit, he'd gain back any lost health plus some extra, as the enemies' blood would be sucked out of their bodies and into his. If it missed, or if he fired it at something with poisoned or tainted blood, he'd be SOL.

* In the MMORPG ''[[Dark Ages (video game)|Dark Ages]]'' by Nexon, the Monk class had access to four different forms of martial arts: Draco (Dragon), Kelberoth (a large cat-like creature), Scorpion, and White Bat. One of the abilities that came with Kelberoth Form was Kelberoth Strike, which dealt a large amount of damage to an enemy at the cost of a large chunk of the Monk's HP. As a result, Kelberoth Form was generally derided as inferior, suicidal, and utterly pointless for leveling purposes unless you had a Priest attached to your hip at all times.

** Also, the Genocide/Banishment spell will subtract 1d3 HP for each monster killed by the spell. Potions of * Healing* recommended when casting said spell in a monster pit.

** In the books some magic works like this too, in 'The Elfstones of Shannara' Allanon's magic ages him substantially. Luckily he can recharge, which also handily explains why he's never arround except when adventuring needs to be done.

* ''[[Wild ARMs 4]]'' and ''[[Wild ARMs 5]]'' both have a move simply titled "Sacrifice" which uses a little MP, which brings self down to 1 HP, but deals damage proportional to it. Since all HP returns to max after battle, this can become a [[Game Breaker]] for random encounters.

* In ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'', ''any'' action your knights and the heroines take costs some of their health (which can only be regained through leveling up). Maria and Meria both have [[Limit Break]]-style [[Finishing Move|finishing moves]] that do [[For Massive Damage|ridiculous amounts of damage to everything on the field]], but the VIT cost is so high that even three uses will kill them, meaning a game over. (Except in Easy Mode, where you can get more like seven or eight uses out of it.)

** Also, the "Time" and "Rounds" are essentially the life force of the Wisp:Time will always go down whenever one of your units is charging an attack.

** A Blood Mage can get around this by draining blood from his or her ''own allies'' to restore HP. Ranger summoned pets will also do in a pinch.

** Reavers are also warriors that have similar abilities.

* In ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', drinking a [http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Jumbo_Dr._Lucifer Jumbo Dr. Lucifer] reduces the user to 1 HP, converting the rest of their HP into MP with a multiplier. Since [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]], though, that may not be as bad as it seems.

** Additionally, if the item combined with a Pastamancer spell known as "Cannelloni Cocoon," which heals the user's full hit points for 20 MP, it wouldn't really matter how hard hitting death was. Full hit points for a fraction of the magic you just regained.

* In numerous [[Beat'Em Up|Beat Em Ups]], such as the ''[[Final Fight]]'' trilogy and ''[[Streets of Rage]] 2 and 3'', characters have special attacks that knock nearby enemies down, but have a health penalty if they connect.

* Although ''[[Nethack]]'' characters themselves can't cast from hit points, wands can—a wand with nominally zero charges still has a little magic left, and with repeated zaps, it will convert its mass into enough power for one more shot, after which it disintegrates.

* Iari's Golemn spells in ''[[Summoner]] 2'' use HP, and explosion knocks her out. If you've got the right gems equipped, it's virtually the only way to kill her late in the game, so make sure you have it if you take her into Survival in the Arena, or you'll be there forever.

* Playing the Vampire race/class in ''[[Desktop Dungeons]]'' causes spells to be cast from your health instead of mana.

* ''[[Amea]]'' applies this by aversion of [[Required Secondary Powers]]—for instance, fire spells burn your hands. You can reduce the cost of spells by finding gloves.

* In the BYOND game ''[[Nestalgia]]'', which is an online game inspired by early 8-bit RPGS, has a warlock class which uses HP for spells. One spell, shift, consumes health from the warlock and restores the health of another party member.

* In the ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series, you have Health, Stamina and Magic points. If magic is drained, you can't cast spells, no matter what. However, this trope applies to Stamina, which allows you to do anything more strenuous than day-to-day activities (like fighting, running and so on): if Stamina runs out, you get the message that "You are so exhausted that everything you do hurts." Any subsequent use of Stamina will drain your health, and you can, in effect, exercise to death. If this happens in battle, however, you die (due to lacking sufficient energy to defend yourself).

* The Dragon's Heart attack in ''[[Adventure Quest]]'' uses up some of your HP but heals your mana.

* Skarlet from the latest ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' can throw an unblockable Blood Ball at the opponent, but each one thrown eats up some of her health. Justified because she is literally ''made'' of blood.

* ''[[Dark Forces Saga|Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy]]'' has a power called Force Rage. It drains your HP, but while it's active you're literally unkillable and you hit a lot harder. Problem is, you're weaker for a while after ''in addition'' to having lower health. At its lowest level, it's basically a means of [[Press X to Die]], as the health drain and post-rage weakness are at their highest and the benefits are at their lowest.

* The [[Blood Knight|Berzerker]] class in ''[[Dungeon Fighter Online]]'' is mostly built around this.

* In ''[[Tales of Maj'Eyal]]'', Reavers and Corrupters can use the skill "Bloodcasting" to cast using HP if they can't afford the Vim cost of their skills, and "Life Tap" to boost their damage for a time at the cost of HP. The only thing that prevents all of their spells from being cast from HP all the time is that they steal the [[Life Energy]] of other things, and so can only regain Vim by attacking creatures.

** It also shows how this concept backfires without really good AI: while all these abilities are very dangerous, the safest way to defeat all 3 ships is still to allow or provoke them into wasting their crews until they can't or won't do it, and only then closing in for the kill. Druuge don't know when to stop ''and'' use cannon recoil to evade incoming fire - thus you don't need to hit Mauler more than once: buzzing it or lobbing anything in its general direction gradually reduces it to [[One-Hit Wonder]], then depletes energy (that cannot be regained quickly now that it's out of sacrificial slaves) until the ship is utterly helpless. Ur-Quan fighters are [[One-Hit Wonder]]s that also die of touching one of the asteroids flying around (though unlike ships is not harmed by planets) - and don't even avoid them. You can harm these two just by evasion. Orz boarders are tougher and faster, but still are skeet on a predictable trajectory.

* ''[[Amagon]]'': The most powerful attack in the game is a laser that Megagon can shoot from his body, at the cost of two hit points.

* ''[[Ascendancy]]'' has Cannibalizer that allows to make more energy by taking damage and Sacrificial Orb that allows its ship to absorb another ship's damage. Sacrificial Orb is useful, in that you can put it on a support ship, so at worst you spread your hit points around and your warship lasts longer, and at best you can combine it with Repair Facility to fix that damage. Cannibalizer is a dubious addition at best: in a battle the idea is to ''not'' take damage; if you need more energy, adding more (and better) reactors is how you normally do it, and in the long run you'll have to do so anyway; it would be occasionally useful with overpowered weapons ''if'' you could micromanage energy, but there are no exact statistics (not even in the manual). And for support ships with energy transfer device it doesn't make sense either, because a non-combat ship has more place to add extra reactors (and/or Gyro-Inductors) "for export" and most of the time doesn't need much energy itself.

* In ''[[Kinnikuman: Muscle Fight]]'', most of Geronimo's attacks also do damage to him. This to emphasize the fact that he's a human among Choujin, and thus he overexerts himself to damage his foes.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Nanase claims she can [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-03-13 Cast From Calories].

** She gets a more traditional one later.

** Not exactly, keeping Black 'Mana' in your body will cause this to happen, but it seems that expending all your black magic won't hurt you, so much as it'll hurt the life force of everything else around you. (Casting from Earth's Hit Points?) It also casts from SAN points. So you can end up "[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)|Dead. And crazy.]]"

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In ''[[Gargoyles]]'', the Magus taps the magic of Avalon in the episode of the same name, which severely weakens him. While initially it only exhausts him, {{spoiler|he ends up casting so many spells this way that he dies as a result}}.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Power At a Price]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]